This week I did my usual “mom” stuff. I made beds, worked with Grace on the letter “Ii” and the number “6.” I packed lunches, made dinners, picked up the kids from school. It seemed like an average week…Oh and the kids had the day off school on Tuesday because it was voting day. I went and voted that day. My sister and my nephew Joey came here from Jackson and we took the kids to see Trolls at the Milford Cinema. It was nostalgic; the tiny one room theater with ancient red plush seats, the ticket counter where no one is actually issued a ticket but you give the man behind the glass your head count, he tells you your total, you pay him and admit yourself through the rotating-metal-arm-thingy–It’s the same theater my brother and sister and I saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in back in the 80s. The Trolls movie was cute. The message was that we are responsible for creating our own happiness. We cannot depend on others to do that for us. Hmmm…(foreshadowing?)

I woke up Wednesday at 6:30 to begin my routine of packing lunches and forcing my sons’ limbs into their uniforms. Scott came into the kitchen to announce who had won the election. I believe my response was, “Holy crap! Didn’t see that coming!” The news kind of caught me off guard, but in truth, I felt fairly indifferent. Whomever won the election wasn’t going to change my day to day “momming.” And I wasn’t a fan of either candidate. I didn’t feel compelled to vote for either one (although I did vote!)

After I got the boys out the door to school, I sat down to my slice of toast and egg, I decided to check in on Facebook, just to see how everyone spent the day off school.

This is when I felt I was looking through a window to Armageddon.

My left-wing friends, and pretty much every celebrity who had supported Clinton were losing their minds with grief, anger, and fear. College students were asking for a day to grieve the loss of what was supposed to be Hillary Clinton’s election. Hateful comments and posts were being flung back and forth. I gently set my phone down and let this all wash over me. I have been letting it all sink in for a few days and I’ve been trying to find the words to articulate my thoughts on it all.

For anyone who cares (and believe me, you don’t have to), this is my take: It doesn’t matter who is in the White House. It doesn’t even matter who is sitting in Congress or the Senate. They create the guidelines for which we are meant to live our days. Government doesn’t have the power to tell you how to love your family. Government will make up laws to make sure people are being treated fairly.

Trump is not going to be the one causing an increase in the amount of bullying we have in schools. If my child said they felt encouraged to bully or discriminate against a person because of Trump being president, I’d take them to volunteer at a soup kitchen and they’d be grounded from anything even resembling a social life until they understood that in our family, only people who respect others will be allowed to interact with the rest of the world. I have that power as a mother to influence the attitude of my child; Mr. Trump does NOT. We are the ones responsible for teaching our children respect and tolerance.

Additionally, Trump is not going to be the one to affect climate change. That is on us as a world. Use a cloth rag instead of paper towel once in a while! Recycle your junk! Be aware of what you’re consuming! Have a conscience about waste! Trump is not the one putting toxic chemicals into your cart at the grocery store. If big businesses start losing out on sales because their products aren’t being bought, they will be forced to look at what they’ve created and will have to make it better.

Trump isn’t the one who allows us to make immoral decisions. It’s on us as a people to do the right thing. Government can’t fix those things. Government isn’t responsible for breaking those things either. That was us. That was our blatant disregard for humanity, our short-sighted thinking. It was us who allowed two morally corrupt politicians to be in the running for the presidential election. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

How many times has it been said, “If you want change, BE THE CHANGE.” Not even a sad election is going to decide the fate of our country. We need to stop blaming others for our problems. We were put on this green and blue marble to do something bigger than ourselves. Everyone is looking for an answer outside of themselves. Bigger government, or any government for that matter, is not the answer. Who is going to stop inner city school children from starving every day? Who is going to put an end to human trafficking? Who is going to give us a sense of self-worth? The answer is staring at you in the mirror.

It doesn’t hearten me to see so many people whining about Donald Trump being elected. He is one man. He isn’t God. If our powers are combined for good, for helping each other, for not taking advantage of a system or a person, we will do amazing things! That is divinity at work.

So everyone needs to suck it up and accept what has happened, realizing this doesn’t define us as a country. We need to do better by each other. Trump is our new president. He isn’t a puppeteer and we are not puppets. We decide our own fate and destiny. And it starts at home. Loving families create loving neighborhoods. Loving neighborhoods create loving cities. Loving cities create loving countries. You get the picture. Maybe in four years we’ll have a presidential election we can all believe in and it won’t matter if there is a (D) or an (R) after the name. But it has to start now. Everyone needs to stop wallowing and start living.